Global trend

We're overfed and under-nourished. The 'Western Diet' is known to dramatically increase rates of:

Type 2 Diabetes

Heart disease

Cancer

Obesity

(Sources: Baum & Whiteman, 2018; O'Neil, 2017)

NEED

In the next three decades:

70% of the world's population will live in cities

Our food production will increase greenhouse gases by 80%

Many of us have started making healthier food choices, opting for a higher percentage of organic plant-based foods. Already, we've seen a 12x increase in sales of organic foods over the past 20 years (to $43 billion in 2015 alone).

How will you scale your idea? Please describe in detail your plan to scale your concept.

The full aspiration of Ciela Plata is to empower sustainable, organic urban farming in cities around the world.
Ciela Plata is pursuing partnerships with a Regrind molding vendor and urban farm architects to launch a pilot program installation at a Portland corporate office with onsite organic dining.
Target launch market scales to include high-density commercial and residential buildings.
Ciela Plata will leverage an increasingly growing Regrind material economy and partnerships with existing vendors in manufacture & installation of compression-molded surfaces.
BENEFITS OF SCALE
• More NIKE GRIND reused
• More business for compression-molding vendors
• More business for compression-molded material installers
• Material reclamation for next lifecycle expands circular economy
• More local, plant-based whole foods in more urban communities worldwide

How is your idea innovative?

Ciela Plata advances rooftop farming infrastructure, empowering scale for urban organic farming:
• Adds new use cases for repeated reclamation & repurposing of more Regrind material in more non-sports venues.
• Reduces material cost to make new rooftop farms and retrofit projects more sustainable & affordable.
• Creates new opportunities for rooftop farming with a circular economy of Regrind components.
• Brings more business to compression-molding vendors & Regrind installers

What inspired this idea?

• Asking: What new uses can deploy more Regrind?
• Asking: What venues can replace virgin materials with Regrind?
• Research into urban rooftop farming
• Onsite farm-to-table organic restaurants
• Design experience in a university Architecture program
• The Nike Grind challenge to innovate

Tell us about yourself and your team. What is your background and experience?

Design background includes 5 years in Architectural Design studios and university Architecture program.
Project Manager with diverse brand & creative experience.
Conversation with array of makers and food producers to inform Regrind use cases.

In what city are you located?

Portland

In what country are you located?

US

What is your legal / organizational structure? (if applicable)

Sole Proprietor

Please describe how becoming a Top Idea will support the growth of your concept.

Hey Chuck Dye , you weren't kidding about adding more diagrams :P. I may have missed this in the illustrations, but I'm still wondering how each specific material might be used if you zoom in on the components--and even better--why.

For example, if you were bringing one of your product concepts to the compression molder, how would you explain it to them? Is it a homogeneous mixture? Layered or patterned in some way? Are you taking advantage of the different material properties to help with performance?

Hello again Bryant Chu -- The Ciela Plata, 'Sky to Plate' urban rooftop vegetable farming components proposal calls for rubber granulate & foam with the compression-molding methods that date back into the 1990s. As for your 'Why' questions, you'll find many of those answers in the Global Trend and Need sections of the summary, and in the green text on the Component Detail diagram in the Prototype section.

Thanks again for your guidance on diagraming over the past week or so since your team joined the challenge. I appreciate your recommendations and hope to cross paths again in the months ahead.